Blades of Fashion
by Jewell Trim
Summary: Ezra is in a jam when Vin gets injured and he loses his partner for the upcoming competition. Thankfully, Vin knows the perfect substitute.


**A/N: So I didn't put this in the other one so I will put it here... I have no actual knowledge of the sport. I watch anime with it and other movies with figure skating. Please don't attack me in the comments for this.**

"I'll drop out then." Ezra said firmly.

"It's not the end of the world." Vin rolled his eyes.

"You can't expect me to find another skater in the span of two months before the competition do you? Someone who can work well with me." Ezra crossed his arms over his chest angrily.

Vin had broken his arm when he landed wrong after a jump during practice. Ezra had been blaming himself for it, but Vin continued to fault himself. Now his right arm was in a sling and he wouldn't be back on the ice in time for the competition. The option of finding a new partner was recommended by his mother, but Ezra wasn't that desperate to dance with some stranger.

"They would be complete novices and I can't work with someone like that."

The sound of the door opening to the main part of the rink made them turn around to see Chris and the others come in.

Ezra sighed, "Please, now is not the time for horse-play. We are having a serious discussion over here."

"We were? Why didn't you tell me?" Vin gave a cheeky grin. "I called Chris to see if he could come."

"Why?"

"You need a new partner correct? I'm sure he can fill in."

"What?" Chris frowned, "That's why you called me here?"

"Ha! Chris skating in tights and doing flips! I'd totally pay to see that." Buck laughed.

"I ain't doing it."

"I agree. What were you thinking? He doesn't know how to skate."

"Excuse me?"

"Figure skate." Ezra corrected. "He completed on flip, barely."

"In five minutes. He can do it, Ezra."

Ezra shook his head, "He's way too heavy for me to lift."

Vin looked between the two men, "So the two of you can switch positions. Chris can do your part and you can do mine. You choreographed the whole routine so you know both parts."

"Still, you are talking about teaching a novice a difficult routine in two months. It's never going to work. I'd rather not do it at all and save face than make a fool of myself."

"You think I'd screw up?"

"Well, you've never done anything like this before, only speed skating and tackling people on the ice like you're a hockey barbarian."

"Hey!" shouted JD and Buck at the same time.

"You couldn't pay me to go around in tights." Chris huffed.

"What I don't understand is, why does it have to be a guy? Isn't usually a girl and guy?" asked Nathan.

"It is, but the competition we're enter in can have any mixed pair. There are two women competing together." Vin explained.

"That sounds too broad in my opinion." Buck frowned. "How do you judge that fairly?"

"Audience vote as well as the judges. It's a new competition held in honor of all the different sexes."

"Oh."

There was a pause where the four men looked at Vin and Ezra.

"We aren't like that!" Ezra's face turned a dark shade of red as he blushed, "Straight competitors can enter too."

"Since I doubt the costume I had would fit you, we can have one made. You can tell them what you want so you'll feel comfortable wearing it." Vin offered.

Chris sighed and looked to the injured man, "Is this really important to you?"

"It is."

"Fine I'll do it."

Ezra's hands were on his hips as he shook his head.

"Do you have proper skates? Not your clunky ones. We'll need to get you a pair. Meet here every morning for practice at six. Following practice, we will go and practice getting you more flexible. I will teach you the foot sequence and Vin will show you the jumps."

Chris could already feel the dread from agreeing to this.

He spent the whole practice getting down the foot sequence and then he had to do it to the music. It didn't seem hard at first, but then the music had a faster tempo. A couple times his feet tripped over themselves and he fell, but eventually he got the beginning half. Out of breath, he gratefully accepted the water he was handed to by Buck.

"You're looking graceful out there. Not like a swan, but for one of us it's pretty damn near elegant."

"Love to see you try and do this." Chris smirked.

"No thanks, I'll stick to cheer squad."

The next few weeks passed with Chris coming in with Vin and Ezra. Chris felt like he had bruises on his bruises by the time he could pull off his double Lutz, triple Salchow and a toe loop. Spinning in place took a lot of patience before he was comfortable to sit as he was moving. Bringing the foot up as he spun ached and a couple times he dropped his foot only to fall. He had a harder time when it came to spinning Ezra as well as himself, while holding onto the man.

After a month and a half, the hardest part was over and he looked decent. All that was left was to sharpen his movements and make him look more graceful. Ezra continued to stress the importance of looking graceful.

When it came time to Chris practicing lifting Ezra, everyone decided to be present. JD had his phone at the ready to record.

"This can only end badly." Ezra muttered.

Chris was standing behind him, his hands on Ezra's waist. Ezra had his hands on Chris's according to the routine.

"Why don't you guys practice a couple more times?" Vin suggested, having explained to Chris what he was to do.

Chris nodded and they moved as one, taking off by both using their left foot. The two glided along the ice, their feet perfectly in sync. As their footwork began to turn them to where they were facing the same direction and by each other's side, their hand grips changed. When Chris was in front, their hands clasped and Ezra used what momentum he had to drop low to the ice and was then pulled up when he was in front again.

Chris held onto Ezra's waist, the big toss coming up. His heart was beating fast, despite not showing any outward nervousness. He took a deep breath before hoisting Ezra in the air and the man did a spin in the air before Chris safely caught him and set him back down, not faulting in his step sequence.

Buck, JD and Nathan had their mouths open as they watched their captain move across the ice as if he'd been doing it for more than six weeks. At the end, they cheered loudly, giving whoops and whistles.

"Damn, I didn't know you could move like that." Buck laughed.

"You looked amazing Chris." JD grinned, still holding up his phone, still recording.

"What do you think, Ezra?" asked Vin with a smile.

Ezra crossed his arms over his chest, "Not bad for a novice. Still need to clean up some parts, but at least we won't look the worst."

"That means Ezra thinks you did a really good job."

"We still have two weeks left before the competition so we can't start slacking off."

"That reminds me." Vin went over and brought something back from his bag. "Your uniform came in the other day."

Chris unwrapped the package and held up the two-part uniform. The pants were black and thankfully not extremely tight as he thought they would be. The shirt was like an army uniform in black with gold ribbons and the material shimmered.

"You're going to look like hot stuff." Buck wiggled his eyebrows in amusement.

"Why don't you try it on to see if it fits." Vin suggested.

Chris would've been lying if he wasn't feeling nervous as he waited on the side with Ezra for their turn to perform. There were quite a few couples out there. About ten. Some of them fell during the performance while others were flawless, gaining impressive scores.

"There's no reason to be nervous." Came Ezra's soft southern drawl.

Chris looked down at his partner. Like him, Ezra was wearing an army uniform. His was red and had gold ribbons as well. The shimmering red worked well with Ezra's auburn hair which was slicked back like his. Chris's hair resembled more of a spiky hairstyle while Ezra's looked like he took more time grooming his.

"We've worked hard for this. No matter what happens, I thank you for doing this. If not for you I—"

"You always talk so much before going out?" Chris smirked.

Ezra chuckled softly, "I guess I do that when I get nervous."

"You'll do fine, and I promise not to drop you on purpose."

"Well that's a comforting thought."

The performance ended and they got ready to go out. Chris looked up in the stands and found the others watching them. He smiled and waved once.

Leave it all out on the ice. No regrets.

Ezra went first and he followed. Their acknowledgement to the crowd by going around once, made him acutely aware of the heavy thumping of his heart against his rib cage. Once they stopped, ready to begin, Chris took a deep breath and lifted his head.


End file.
